Tucson's boneyard

Two years ago, when we stopped in Tucson, we visited the Pima Air and Space Museum, one of Lee's favorites.  We visited again this time, because Lee wanted to see if there were any new acquisitions.  There were a few. 

I enjoyed the bus ride through the "boneyard" the most.  The boneyard is on the local air force base, and basically serves as storage for retired aircraft.  I mentioned it last time around, but this time I thought I would show more photos.  The scale of the boneyard is impressive, since it is used by all branches of the military, including Navy, Marines, and Air Force.  There are also a few Coast Guard planes, and even airplanes from other countries.  Norway, for example, finds the Arizona climate much better suited to airplane storage than its own (not surprisingly).

I will not try to explain what the planes are, since I cannot remember.  There are a lot of numbers.  I do remember that A=Attack, B=Bomber, C=Cargo, and F=Fighter.  So an F-15 is one in an evolution of several fighter jets.  In the photo below, note the tiny jet juxtaposed with the huge cargo planes.

  

Many air transports, like the helicopters below, are wrapped in latex to protect the instruments and parts from the hot Arizona sunshine.

Imagine in your mind row after row after row for miles on end:

Some airplanes are actually brought back from storage into active service.  We saw several small fighter or attack jets being turned into drones!

Most of the planes are used for parts for those aircraft that are still in active service.  Once all parts are salvaged from a plane, the plane is cut up into small pieces and the metal is recycled.  Notice the airplane below.  It is supported by plywood props, because its landing gears have all been stripped from it for other uses.  As expensive as airplane parts are, this makes sense.  The facility sends out on average of 20 parts each day.  Your tax dollars at work!

There is another similar boneyard several miles west of Tucson, for commercial aircraft storage.  The area is ideal for aircraft storage for a few reasons.   One is obvious - the warm and dry climate.  The second is because real estate is relatively cheap out here in the desert.  The third is less obvious.  It is because of the hard earth just a few inches beneath the soil.  It supports the heavy weight of the aircraft without the need for concrete or other special preparation.